What Is “The Fellowship of the Mystery”? – Part 1

Since Paul was given the position of Apostle to the Gentiles by Jesus Christ Himself and because the 13 epistles he wrote are the instructions and the doctrine for the church today, we need to know what this Fellowship of the Mystery is.

Although this mystery is spoken of often by Paul it’s easy to just gloss over it without really paying much attention to it.

But if we’re to know where our position in Christ is today, not in times past or times future, but today, we need to understand what Paul is clearly teaching. We need to know what it is, how it came into being and what it means for you and me today.

The natural place to begin to understand what Paul’s teaching is to look at the verses in the Bible where this mystery is presented to us.

We’re going to take these verses in the order that the epistles of Paul appear in our Bibles, realising that this is not the chronological order in which the epistles were written.

Romans 11:25,

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 

Romans 16 verses 25 and 26,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—

1st Corinthians 2 verses 6 and 7,

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

1st Corinthians 15:51,

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (that means die), but we shall all be changed—

Ephesians 1 verses 7 to 9,

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

Ephesians 3 verses 1 to 5,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

Ephesians 3 verse 9,

and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 6 verses 18 and 19,

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Colossians 1 verses 25 and 26,

of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

Colossians 1:27,

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 2 verses 2 and 3,

that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 4:3,

meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,

1st Timothy 3:9,

holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

There are other passages where Pauls refers to the mystery as well but some of these are, if could put it like this mystery within the mystery, so we’ve not included them.

Mystery! How come a mystery? How come God kept it a secret from the foundation of the world? Why was it revealed at that time to the apostle Paul?

What is it? Is it important that we, the church, the Body of Christ know this today?

These are questions we hope to satisfactorily answer.

We’ll make a bold claim here that without understanding this mystery, now revealed, our attempts to understand the Bible, particularly that which relates to us today, and the coming events of the end times, will be confusing and leave us with more questions than answers.

Let’s start by understanding that although this mystery was kept secret by God from the foundation of the world, the vast majority of God’s revealed Word, The Bible, was not kept secret.

In fact, one of the many ways, we can be sure that our Bible is the Word of God, that it was inspired by Him, is through hundreds of prophecies that were given by God long before the events actually happened, in some cases, centuries and even thousands of years before they were perfectly fulfilled.

This shows that that author was from outside of our time dimension.

Prophecy is the major portion of the Bible, and it was God revealing His plan and His will to mankind over time. He spoke through many prophets, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and these prophets wrote all these prophecies down.

So, in these prophecies God has told man about His plan and His will.

• He would send a Saviour Who would willingly pay for the price for the sin of Adam and, by His death and His spilled blood, would take away the sins of the world.
• He would create a special nation, separated from the rest of the world for His own purposes. That nation is Israel.
• He told us how that nation, Israel, would continually reject Him and go their own way and how they would pay a very heavy price when they did, but how when they did do God’s will, He would bless and prosper them. As a result of their rejection, they would be enslaved and be taken captive by other nations, but that God would deliver them.
• He told us how that nation would be a nation of priests to where the other nations of the world would come to learn of God and His ways.
• He told how He would send a Messiah, The Saviour, to Israel through Whom they could be saved, and He told us that the Saviour would die and how the nation would reject Him and the salvation He bought.
• He told us about a great and glorious Kingdom that would come to earth and be the inheritance of His separated nation and how this Messiah, this King would rule this kingdom for 1000 years.
• He told us about a terrible period of time that would come upon the earth before the setting up of this glorious kingdom, where God would pour out His wrath on all the unrighteous and all the unbelievers on earth. This would happen because no unrighteous or unbelieving person could ever enter this earthly kingdom.
• He told us how through this terrible period, a remnant of His beloved nation of Israel would finally turn from their rejection of the Messiah and accept Him.
• He told us how the earth would be restored after that awful period of tribulation.
• He told us about the end of sin on earth permanently.
• He told us about a final judgement where every person who ever lived will be judged and how every person who had not trusted in the way He Had made whereby man could become righteous, at an awesome cost to Himself, would be judged to eternal damnation.
• He told us that the current heaven and earth would pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth would replace them and how a magnificent city, called the New Jerusalem, would come down from heaven and from there God would dwell and His King, the Messiah would rule for ever and sin, death tears and sorrow would never be again.

All of this and much, much more was revealed to mankind through the prophets.

But what was never revealed to mankind, what was kept secret by God, since before the foundation of the world, told to no man, was this mystery that was finally revealed to mankind by Jesus Christ Himself to the apostle Paul.

At the same time this mystery was revealed to Paul he was given a ministry to preach this mystery to mankind both Jew and Gentile. But his main ministry was preaching it to the Gentiles.

So, the difference with this mystery revealed to Paul, is that completely opposite to prophecy, which was God revealing His plans and His will to mankind, this mystery was not revealed. It was kept secret by God until Christ revealed it to Paul.

There’s one more foundation that we’re going to need to firmly stand on as we look at these things.

That foundation is the knowledge that God deals with different people, in different ways, in different ages.

Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2 tell us,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

See God at one time, in the past, spoke through the prophets. However, in the last days He’s spoken by His son. See different methods of speaking to people at different times.

Common sense tells us that although God instructed Noah to build an ark, He’s not instructing you and I to do that today.

Likewise, God, in a test of faith, instructed Abraham to offer his beloved only son as a sacrifice. Are we to do that as a test of faith today?

All through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we see Jesus Christ coming to the nation of Israel, proving He was the long-promised Messiah by fulfilling prophecy to the letter and yet we see enormous contrasts in what Jesus taught to Israel and how we, the modern-day church, live today.

So, it’s of the highest importance that we recognise that there are differences in the way God deals with mankind through the ages, and we need to know what God’s doing today so that we can understand what he requires of us today.

It’s also important to realise that God Himself never changes, scripture tells us that, but the way he deals with mankind does.

Although the Bible shows us clearly how God dealt with man down through the ages, we cannot try and select things that God did in the past, or will do in the future, and relate them to us today.  It’s vital for us to know what God’s doing today! If we don’t, if we try and mix these ways that God’s dealt with mankind so that we apply bits of what God’s done in the past, with bits He’s going to do in the future and then try and understand what’s happening today, we’re opening ourselves up for a heap of confusion, a mish mash of bits and pieces that don’t fit.

In order to guard against this confusion, we must understand the whole story, the whole plan of God, in order to understand our place today in that plan.

Scripture bears this out in 2nd Timothy 3:16 and 17,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And we’re instructed to understand scripture. In 2nd Timothy 2:15 we read,

Be diligent (or study) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Notice the emphasis on “rightly dividing” the Word of truth?

See we’re to understand these division between how God worked with man in the past, how He’s dealing with man today and how He will deal with man in the future, and those big differences are vital to you and me if we’re to know God and His purpose for us.

One word of warning!

As these differences become more and more familiar we can easily find ourselves questioning traditional church teachings and doctrines, many of which are passed down and distributed as truth without any real questions being asked.

Often they’re the product of misunderstandings about context and the reliance on single, or limited, passages of scripture that tend to become regarded as doctrine.

When we ask ourselves simple questions like who is speaking, who are they speaking to, and what is the age or dispensation they’re living in and referring to, we can see these passages in an entirely different light.

One other thing we must keep in mind is that the vast majority of the Bible is written to and about Israel, God’s separated nation, not us Gentiles.

We mustn’t try and put ourselves, as the church today, in place of Israel.

That’s not only wrong but dangerous as it’ll completely hide the truth of God’s plan and our part in it.

Israel is the key focus of the Bible even though, as we’ll see, Israel is in a fallen state in this day we’re living in now.

So, to understand this “Fellowship of the Mystery” we need to go back in time to past ages, past dispensations and understand how and why this nation of Israel has such a huge influence on what’s happening to us today.

Let’s look at some terms that relate to these past ages so when they appear we know what they mean.

These terms are parts of God’s program through the ages.

We have the promises, the Covenants and the law.

Understanding the promises, the covenants, and the law, all given to the nation Israel, is another key to understanding this mystery.

The Promises.

When we talk about the promises we’re talking about both unconditional and conditional promises that God made the nation of Israel.

We see that in Genesis chapter 12 and God’s unconditional promises to Abram who would later be Abraham. Then in Exodus chapter 19 we see the conditional promises made to the nation of Israel which had grown from Abraham.

The Law

This is the mosaic law, the law given to Israel, by God Himself, through Moses. The 10 commandments were just a sort of table of contents because there’re 613 laws.

We see the start of these laws in Exodus 20 and the details throughout Deuteronomy and many come from the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh.

The Covenants.

The covenants are agreements that God made with the nation of Israel. There were two. The Old covenant, and the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant, which Israel did not, and could not keep their part of, relied on them keeping the law that God had given to them through Moses.

The New Covenant that God made with Israel was that, at the correct time, He would put His laws into their hearts and into their minds so they would do what God required of them as a natural instinct.

There’d be no need for them to be taught the things of God because they’d all know Him and His ways in their hearts and minds.

We see the old covenant in Exodus 20 and the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremaiah in Jeremaiah 31:31 and confirmed in Hebrews 8:10.

Then, last but certainly not least, we need to understand a person. The promises, the law and the covenants along with everything else in the Bible revolves around a hub and that hub is a person.

We’re talking, of course about The Lord, Jesus Christ.

He’s a part, a member of the Godhead, the triune God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

He was the Word of God Who was in the beginning with God, and was God.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh in the town of Bethlehem some 2000 years ago, born of flesh through the body of a virgin, human woman. Born apart from the seed of Adam which carried the sin nature from person to person, every person who’d ever been born, except this One. The seed of this person was not from man but from God, making Him fully God and fully man both at the same time.

He was given the name Jesus, according to prophecy, which means saviour.

Jesus came to His own, to the nation of Israel, as the long-prophesied Messiah who would save Israel, though Israel did not receive Him. They rejected Him and crucified Him, all according to prophecy.

He came to Israel in the flesh to fulfill prophecy. We see this in Matthew 5 verse 17 and 18, Jesus Himself speaking,

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Then we see in Matthew 15:24 Jesus speaking to the Syrophoenician woman,

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The prophecies and the prophetic dates that were given through prophets like Daniel made certain that there was no puzzle about this coming Messiah or the time He was due.

The nation should have known and there was no excuse for them.

But we’re jumping ahead of the story.

What exactly happened to Israel? Let’s look at a brief history.

Below this broadcast list is a timeline showing this history to make it easy to follow.

From the creation we see mankind continually rejecting God, and outliving the sin which is in every person’s heart, inherited from the fallen first humans. We see that sin and wickedness get so bad that God wipes out the population of the earth except for eight people, Noah and his family. As Noah and His family repopulate the earth we see that population continue in evil and disobedience to God and His plan through the account of the Tower of Babel at which point God disperses the population by separating their language, forcing them to spread over the earth.

But then we get to a man named Abram, whose name would be later changed by God to Abraham, and wife Sarai whose name would also be changed to Sarah.

God chooses this man to make a promise to and we see that in Genesis 12 verses 1 to 3,

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house To a land that I will show you. 

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 

I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God has promised that a great nation would emerge from this man and that this nation would be a blessing to all the earth. That promise was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac and then to Isaac’s son Jacob.

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and he had the 12 sons that would become the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.

One of those 12 sons, Joseph, was despised by the other brothers who were jealous of him, and the brothers sold him into slavery and told their father Jacob, Israel, that he’d been killed by a wild animal.

However, Joseph, through one of the most amazing life journeys ever, becomes a ruler in Egypt where he’d become a slave.

In a background of high drama, which can be found in Genesis chapters 37 to 50, there came a great worldwide famine which ended up with this fledging tribe of Israel, 70 people at this stage, coming to Egypt for food and through Joseph, who bought them to live in Egypt, they survived as a nation.

In Genesis chapter 15 God tells Abraham that this would all happen.

Let’s look at Genesis chapter 15 verse 13 and 14,

Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 

And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

That happens. The nation of Israel goes into Egypt and as they’re in Egypt they increase greatly and the Egyptians fear that they may grow to be more powerful than them, so they put them into harsh slavery.

God hears their cries for deliverance from this slavery and raises up a person who would lead them out of captivity, Moses.

In Exodus 12 verses 35 and 36,

Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 

And the LORD had given the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians. 

It was God’s way of simply collecting back wages for their years of slave labour in Egypt. The Egyptians owed the Israelites so much in back wages that the children of Israel plundered them and left with much of Egypt’s wealth.

Then we go down to Exodus 12:41,

And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 

They go from Egypt into the Wilderness where they got God’s law. The fathers weren’t perfect people, and we can read a lot about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s failures in life, but the nation also learned all sorts of incorrect customs while in Egypt. They served other gods and as they came out they had to get rid of those idols and things.

So, God gave them a law.

And what did they do? Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the law and the very first thing the nation does is build a golden calf, an obscene idol.

It’s the same as the story of the Earth. From the beginning sin entered by one man Adam, ruining the thing that God had created.

Now, God has created this special nation, and their fall begins right away. They start a history of tripping and falling that continues to this day.

Now out of Egypt, it’s God’s intention for them to go in and possess the land that He’d given them through His promise to Abraham.

When they get there, probably after a few weeks, they’re too afraid to go in. They’re afraid of the people who’re in the land at the time.

What they’re really saying is, “We can’t trust God to give us our land, we don’t believe His promise.”

So, God punishes them and says, “Well you’re going to wander in the wilderness until all of this current generation are dead.”

After forty years wandering in that wilderness, they finally get into their promised land, led by the only two people of that unbelieving generation who did believe, Joshua and Caleb.

As usual, they mess up very quickly. God tells them to get rid of the native peoples and they don’t, and so those people remain and cause them problems for the rest of their history.

Then, as soon as God’s man, Joshua dies the nation of Israel disobeys God.

They followed God’s statutes while Joshua was alive and as soon as he died they chucked out those statutes.

In the law that they were given God clearly told them what He would do when they disobeyed

and what they He would do when they obeyed that law.

However, its vital to point out what Paul makes clear in Galatians chapter 3 verse 16 to 18 and we read,

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “AND TO YOUR SEED,” who is Christ. 

And this I say that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 

For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 

What Paul’s saying is that the requirement for Israel to be obedient came with the law. However, the promise to Abraham was made 430 years before the law was even given. This means that the promise of the land made to Abraham was not annulled or cancelled out by the nation’s disobedience to the law.

Let’s move to Judges now and look at Judges chapter 2 verse 14 and 15,

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So, He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 

Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. 

The Lord raised up these judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. Let’s keep reading in verses 17 to 19,

Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so. 

And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. 

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

This is the continuing story of Israel. They didn’t just fall at the end; they were tripping up all along the path of their history.

Israel gets to a point that God said in the law that they would, they look around at the other nations and decide that what they need a king, a man to lead them.

That was wrong because God was their King, and they should have been looking to God for their leadership. However, God then began appointing them Kings and it’s in this time period of the Kings where they get punished some more because their Kings aren’t good.

They end up messing up yet again and God, according to the law, punishes them.

Now let’s look at 2 Samuel chapter 7 and a very important promise that God makes to King David, a man of whom God said was quote, “A man after my own heart”,

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 

He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 

Here’s a prophecy talking about the Kingdom of Israel being forever.

God will eventually raise the Kingdom of Israel regardless of how they mess up and fall, and, of course, they did mess up.

David had issues with BethSheba, and his son Solomon had issues with his 700 wives and 300 concubines.

We just saw David getting promised the throne in the Kingdom forever, but still, it didn’t take long before the problems of the nation continued and compounded.

In 1 Kings 11 starting verse 9 to 13 we see,

So, the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. 

Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 

Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 

However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

After King Solomon’s death his two son’s Jeroboam and Rehoboam (who was Solomon’s rightful successor) cause a civil war in Israel resulting in the nation being split in two.

Israel split into the 10 kingdoms referred to as Ephraim or the house of Israel in the north of the land and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam in the new kingdom of Judah in the south.

We read about it earlier when God was telling Solomon what was going to happen for his disobedience.

Jeroboam the first king to the 10 tribes, didn’t want those tribes returning to Jerusalem so he set up his own Temple and he set up his own idols, calves made of silver and gold, just like they did in the wilderness.

After this split in the time of the Kings, Hosea prophesied. This is when there’s still a nation, so Israel’s not fallen at this time but they’re making mistakes.

In the future, when Israel goes again into captivity, other nations came in and lived in that area and the Samaritans, who we hear a lot about in the Bible are a mixture of those peoples.

This was in the northern part of the promised land that God had given the nation, and the Samaritans originated there.

In 2^nd Kings chapter 17 verse 24 we read,

Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. 

Then in 22^nd Kings 17:29,

However, every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. 

The idolatry and spiritual adultery were almost universal.

As the nation of Israel continued to disobey God He did what he said in the law. The punishment for that disobedience was that they were taken out of the land.

This is the period of captivity that Hosea is prophesying about. He’s says you lot are going to get punished and the kingdom is going to end, and you’ll be carried away to Egypt and to Assyria and you won’t live here anymore in your promised land.

Well, after this split occurs, they keep messing up, and eventually they fall into captivity.

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that after the 70th year of their captivity, Israel would return back to the land.

This happens during the rule of Cyrus who, despite not being a follower of the God of the Bible, played a pivotal role in God’s plan for His people.

He decrees that they should go back to their land.

This is the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, or the nation of Judah and it’s to Jerusalem to where they’re returning.

The prophet Daniel reads the book of the prophet Jeremiah and in Daniel chapter 9 verse 2 we read,

in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 

Go to Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 10 and 11,

For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

We clearly see in Jeremiah that Daniel is speaking of the 70 years of punishment that God gave the nation of Judah for their sins and disobedience of the Covenant.

It talks about their return to that land.

Take a look at Jeremiah 25 verse 11 and 12,

And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

Then, Cyrus, king of Persia, (the Persians had by now conquered Babylon), issues a decree and sends those from the nation back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem in the land of Judah and to rebuild the temple.

That’s described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which detail the actual people. It even gives a list their names and how many there were that returned to Judah and Jerusalem and how they rebuilt the wall and then rebuilt the temple.

After that there’s nothing that God says to this nation any longer.

He’s punished them with captivity away from their promised land and then some of them returned to Jerusalem and Judah.

Then God is silent.

Then one day a prophet named John the Baptist came along.

His appearance is prophesied about in the book of Malachi, the last prophetic book in the so-called Old Testament.

Look at Malachi 3 verse 1,

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. 

We also see this in Isaiah 40 verse 3,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 

In Mark chapter 1 verse 2 we read,

As it is written in the Prophets: “BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.” 

“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'” 

It’s here that God begins to speak to the nation of Israel again.

God spoke to the fathers previously and gave the nation prophets and here’s John, another prophet, and then God Himself comes to the nation in the form of humanity.

What did Israel do in that time?

They did what they’d done since the beginning of their history. They disobeyed God. They didn’t do what He said.

Jesus, who was God Himself came and they rejected him. They nailed him to a cross and crucified him. They rejected the kingdom that he preached was coming. This was their promised kingdom which now The Lord Himself was there to bring to fulfillment.

They rejected Christ Himself and they rejected the Apostles Christ sent to herald the coming kingdom.

Let’s look at that in Matthew 21 verses 42 and 43 where Jesus is telling his disciples what’s going to happen,

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. THIS WAS THE LORD’S DOING, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?

“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 

And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”  

That stone is Jesus. Jesus is also referred to by Paul as The Stumbling Stone or what Israel tripped over and we read that in Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11 where Israel failed to receive that Kingdom because of their disobedience.

Their disobedience continued even after God punished them and sent them out of their land.

They continue to reject God.

Look at Matthew chapter 16 verse 15 to 18 where Jesus talks about how he would be rejected. He’d already asked the disciples, “Who do men say I am.” and they answered telling Him that some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.,

He (Jesus) said to them (the disciples), “But who do you say that I am?” 

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 

Here we see a play on words by Jesus. Peter means rock and “on this rock” Jesus says. On Peter did He mean?

No! Don’t fall into the Catholic trap. This is not the rock of Peter! The rock is who? Jesus!

The nation of Israel rejected that Cornerstone which became the chief Stone.

Jesus is talking about Himself, Who He is, and it’s upon believing Who He is that He’s going to build his church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it.

Of course, true to form, the nation of Israel rejected that stone. They stumbled over that stone which was Jesus.

They didn’t have faith in God and all God had promised but instead they sought to establish their own righteousness through the works of the law.

This is, in fact, has the opposite result, proving them unrighteous through their lack of faith in Who Jesus was, The Messiah.

Right back into the dawn of mankind faith in what God had said was accounted to man as righteousness as we see in Romans 4 verse 3,

For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

So, the nation rejects Jesus and crucifies Him, and His Apostles preach at Pentecost that thank God He was resurrected. He rose again from the dead and lives.

There’s still hope for our kingdom they say, just repent, or turn from your rejection of God.

The apostles continue to preach that message until we get to the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7.

It’s at this time that the nation falls for the final time. They’ve rejected the prophets which the Father sent, they rejected the Son and now they’re rejecting the Holy Spirit, who the apostles at Pentecost were preaching under the influence of. Jesus Himself said there’s no forgiveness for that rejection or blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

In God’s great prophetic timeline, what should have happened was that Israel would receive their Messiah with overwhelming joy and then, after a short but horrific time of tribulation, where God would pour out His wrath on all unbelievers and all those that had rejected the Messiah, the promised kingdom would be set up on earth and Christ would rule over that kingdom from Jerusalem and from King David’s throne, again in full accordance with prophecy.

In the next episode, part 2 of What is the Fellowship of the Mystery, we’ll see what did happen and we’ll see why this brief summary of the rise and fall of Israel was key to our understanding of that Mystery.